Obama On Race -- Not Quite a Home Run
Obama in Philly Yesterday
With a couple of exceptions -- hopefully the result of political necessity, and possibly ignorance -- Obama's Philadelphia address is the most lucid, accurate assessment/description of the state of "race" relations in America today I've heard from the lips of a public official in recent memory (if ever).
Frankly, I have no problem with Rev. Wright. Still, I understand Obama had to repudiate certain of the minister's comments. In his assessment of Wright, he expressed his disagreement with him on certain points -- and that's his prerogative/right. But in explaining Wright's comments, Obama ascribed them to Wright's shortcomings as a man and to "his generation" as though Wright's point of view is outdated, his judgment somehow clouded by bitterness. Frankly, that's a load of crap. And Black folks know it. At least, however, Obama was honest enough to state flat out that Wright's views are fairly common among Blacks in the U.S.
What Obama completely failed to mention, however, was all too obvious -- that Wright comes out of a very specific cultural tradition (which Obama may not quite get, given his ethnic background), which is out of the Black Church and the Black oral tradition, where hyperbole and various forms of verbal aggression/attack are part and parcel of everyday discourse and, certainly, of public speaking. Over-the-top characterizations and incendiary polemics are historical qualities of the African-American spoken word. It's a no-brainer. White America is, after all, very familiar with the hyperbolic bravado of rap (White kids buy more rap CDs than Black folks do) and the verbal aggression of ball-court trash talk, perhaps less so with woofin', signifying and the dozens. Still, hyperbole in African-American oral tradition is a phenomenon White America easily would have been able to recognize, if not relate to -- had Obama bothered to connect the dots for them.
The fact is, owing to deliberate obtuseness (racism) or just sheer ignorance/stupidity, White America still needs a lot of help when it comes to inter-ethnic understanding. And when it comes to African Americans especially, they're still on the short, yellow bus -- if you get my meaning. ;)
The other thing I had a problem with was his obligatory and blatant a** kissing with regard to the Zionist lobby/electorate. I cringed at the way he completely and utterly discounted the issue of the illegal settler colony of Israel as the primary grievance of the Islamic world against the U.S. (and the West, generally), ascribing anti-American Islamic animus merely to some sort of unreasoning "hatred." I can't believe Obama could possibly be so naive/ignorant! As calculated as it would have been, I have to hope his comments were out of perceived political necessity. It was the only gross miscalculation/real error I saw in his address. It deeply marred an otherwise excellent address. Certainly, the issue of Israel/Occupied Palestine warrants as nuanced and balanced an approach -- even in passing -- as the issue of "race." But we didn't get it yesterday. Muslim Americans and other anti-Zionistists (including anti-Zionist Jews) have to have been disappointed at his complete discounting of a very real and intractable problem, one that will not go away with such glib and dismissive rhetoric and pandering instead to the 'crazed, hate-filled militant Islamists' demagoguery that has been so much a part of this country's public discourse since 9-11. I know I was. I hope Obama's unfortunate remarks in this regard were simply currying favor -- and not indicative of the way he will conduct foreign policy once in office.
I noted that on MSNBC, Scarborough initially tried his usual conservative spin, citing only Obama's comments about Black grievances and completely ignoring the fact that he also addressed Whites' complaints. But Scarborough (asshole-with-an-agenda that he is) had to take a step back from that position once Brian Willliams allowed the brother from The Washington Post to set the record straight in that regard.
So, all in all, the address was very well done.
Now, let's see if the White electorate has the intelligence to receive and honestly process what Obama had to say.
Frankly, I'm not holding my breath.
